FIFA has been urged to investigate a VAR official after he made a “white power” symbol during a World Cup game on Sunday, reports itv.com.

Shaun Evans, from Australia, was seen making an upside-down “okay” symbol with his right hand as the camera cut to show the team of video analysts ahead of Germany vs Curaçao, in Houston, Texas.

The gesture – with thumb and forefinger touched in a circle and other fingers outstretched – was designated a hate symbol in 2019 by the New York-based Anti-Defamation League.

The Fare network, a long-time partner of FIFA and European football body UEFA in monitoring racist and discriminatory chants, flags and symbols at international games, described the symbol as “neo-Nazi”.

“Advice from our experts is that the gesture used clearly resembles an upside-down ‘okay’ hand symbol used as a “white power” symbol in global far-right circles,” it said in a statement.

“Clearly, this official should have no further role to play in this World Cup.”

“Why is a VAR supervisor using this symbol at a global football event at the very moment he knows the cameras are on him?” Fare continued

The gesture was previously popularised by children as the “circle game”, where someone flashes an upside-down okay sign below their waist, and anyone who looks at it is caught out and punched in the shoulder.

It was then appropriated as a signal for white supremacy a decade ago, starting as a hoax on the far-right online message board 4chan.

Evans’ intention with the symbol is unclear, and FIFA has been contacted for comment.

When the sign was designated as a hate symbol, Oren Segal, director of the ADL’s Centre on Extremism, said context is key to interpreting whether it is hateful or harmless.

He said at the time there was “enough of a volume of use for hateful purposes that we felt it was important to add”.

Evans is among 30 video review analysts selected by FIFA to work at the World Cup being played in the United States, Canada and Mexico.